Nigel Farage’s decision to back a ban on slaughtering animals without stunning them was not aimed at Jews but was meant to target ‘others’, a UKIP MEP sought to clarify.

Stuart Agnew, a member
of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development in the
European Parliament, said Britain’s Jewish community had been
“caught in the crossfire.”

Agnew’s comments follow UKIP’s announcement on Tuesday that it
would back a ban on non-stun slaughter, accusing the government
of being “weak” and “lazy” on the issue.

Simon Cohen, Campaign Director at Shechita UK – an organization
promoting Jewish methods of animal slaughter – said UKIP’s new
policy would return it to the “fringes of mainstream
politics.”

Video documents cruelty

Religious slaughter has been in the spotlight this week after
Animal Aid published an undercover video on Tuesday documenting
scenes of cruelty in a halal abattoir in Yorkshire.

The four-minute video, which was filmed inside Bowood
slaughterhouse last December, includes graphic scenes of workers
kicking half-conscious sheep in the face, jumping up and down on
them, and hacking at their throats.

Most abattoirs are required by law to stun animals before they
are killed, but Muslim and Jewish slaughterhouses are exempt on
religious grounds.

Politicians and the public reacted strongly to the video, with
over 100,000 people signing a petition to end non-stun slaughter
on the government’s e-petition website.

Sir Roger Gale MP, a former vice-chair of the Conservative Party,
called for government action.

“This highlights the very real concern over halal and kosher
slaughter. My impression is that all political parties have
fought and fight shy of addressing the issue because of the
concern not to upset certain faith groups,” he said.

“We should bite the bullet and legislate if necessary and
simply say point blank there will be no ritual slaughter without
pre-stunning,” he added.

UKIP wades into debate

UKIP announced a surprise U-turn on its policy toward non-stun
slaughter by calling for its ban on the same day the abattoir
video was released.

Party leader Nigel Farage had previously expressed tacit support
for protecting the legal exemption held by religious groups.

Speaking at an event organized by the Jewish Chronicle in 2013,
he said even if most UKIP supports are uncomfortable with it,
“that’s different to saying to your community ‘you can’t do
it.’”